My 100 Year Old Ago Baptism

When I was eight years old I was informed I had reached the age of accountability and therefore needed to forge a contract with God which would make me responsible for all of my decisions and actions, especially those that were potentially damaging to myself and others, from that point forward, forever and ever. I remember walking through marbled halls and answering to men wearing starched white shirts held tightly around their necks with perfectly knotted ties wrapped in tailored jackets, sitting in very quiet rooms with high ceilings, behind large, ornate desks.

I was in agreement with and felt a bit honored by the whole ordeal, really. Most of my friends at the time were Catholic and had to make the same agreement when they were so young they couldn’t even walk or talk so I figured I was getting a pretty good deal. At the time I had a pretty good grasp of the concept of symbolism but I really didn’t understand why I had to be pushed to the bottom of a giant four foot deep ornate bath tub filled with cold water in order to seal the deal, twice. I thought maybe the twice part was because someone sensed I might be a bit of a problem in the future and they wanted to make sure I got the point.

I think most people who get baptized miss the fact that the Devil takes note of such an event. In my case the fact that the Devil was a witness to the whole ordeal kind of erased any questions I had in my mind as to, “Where’s the pen and paper, where do I sign?” I remember feeling that his attendance reinforced my very early recognition of the existence of good and evil. As it turned out, when all was said and done there was a pen and a piece of paper but I was never invited to sign it. I resolved the conflict in my mind with the understanding that my submission to my own near drowning was just as good, or perhaps even better than my signature.

My baptism influenced my life for the good and has a lot to do with where I am today. As I mentioned above it helped reinforce my understanding of the profound concept of good vs. evil, even at the tender age of eight years old.

What I had no concept of at the time was ever living to be 61 years old and the inevitable highs and lows that would occur in my life between then and now. I do remember when I turned ten years old I decided since I was born in 1950 I would think of my future life in terms of decades lived. Even so I had a very difficult time imagining 1970 and the year 2000 was but a futuristic fantasy filled with x-ray glasses, 3 dimensional, color TV and flying cars.

Please excuse my rambling. My point is, it’s 2012 and I’m still here and my baptism seems like it was 100 years ago.

- Me Self

End of Year Observations and a bit of Advice

If you were, right now, on a ship in the middle of the ocean, with an unobstructed and undeniable view of black storm clouds in the direction of all horizons what would you do? With no knowledge of which clouds will intensify or dissipate if any, what would you do? My advice would be to simply prepare yourself for whatever you perceive is about to happen in the direction of your sails. Or if deemed necessary change directions and if you are not the captain of your ship, do whatever is in your power to convince your captain to change directions.

America is in a steep decline. Perhaps signaling a global decline? Our elected representatives who have taken an oath to uphold and defend our constitution apparently haven’t even read it or fail to comprehend its contents or meaning or outright defy it in opposition to their own corrupt interests. They no longer listen to their constituents through conventional means, i.e., telephone calls, letters or even email. I know, I’ve tried repeatedly over the past year. They conduct ‘town hall meetings’ as diatribes and lectures rather than listening to the voices of those they represent. The main stream media, paid for and acting as an arm of our corrupt representatives reports our voices as uneducated, ignorant, contrived, insincere, covertly organized, radical, ‘nut-winged’ and even militant.

We the citizens of this great nation are allowing this decline to happen. Who among us has the time or inclination to take on and solve problems that exist beyond the realm of our own little microcosm of life; our families and our jobs?

Do I need to say it? Do you need to be shaken by the shoulders to understand that if you don’t start acting beyond the boundaries of your little world that you and your children are soon to be buried in an avalanche of domination trumping perhaps the very core of your own personal beliefs?

The New Electronic Grass Roots

The rise of the internet and the subsequent birth of social networking and the blogosphere is the greatest weapon in defense of freedom since the inception and execution of the Gutenberg press, guerilla warfare as invented by and executed by American Revolutionaries and the American invention of the Winchester repeater rifle. The internet is again, undeniably, an American invention born from the roots of freedom resulting in unlimited and unabated innovation. The blogosphere is exposing severely biased news organizations, corrupt governments, fatal propaganda and politicians and mainstream media outlets for what and who they are.

Plant Your Seeds

First and foremost, balance your life. Actually, tip the scales on the positive side. Live, laugh and love, enjoy your life to the fullest but create enough weight to throw on and tip the scales to balance out an unexpected crisis or disaster, upon a moments notice.

Prepare yourself physically and mentally if you possess the ability to do so. Teach your children first and foremost the principle of good vs. evil and hone not only their minds but also their bodies. Encourage and teach them the technology needed to preserve social networking and the blogosphere and encourage them to use such tools to spread the truth and goodness. Teach them a trade, to use their hands. Teach them to understand that those dark clouds on the horizon have the potential to not only cause a crippling technological breakdown but also the destruction of our physical infrastructure. Stock up and store those commodities that enable you to not only sustain but enjoy your life.

The Top Three Planetary Threats

• The resurgence of Communism – world domination via the ultimate control of the individual, their rights and their possessions, as sought by power hungry, ruthless dictators and megalomaniacs overcome with evil obsessions.
• The Myth of Global warming – The 'Green Movement' - a cleverly disguised, sinister, feel-good path to world domination.
• Radical Muslimism – An epidemical off-shoot of the Islamic religion who’s conversion methods include strong armed terrorist actions and threats offering you the opportunity to live a life defined by their leaders in lieu of having your head cut off, slowly, or having your body blown to smithereens while shopping for a piece of fruit in an open air market. Those who somehow escape the aforementioned stark consequences of non-conversion are subject to an excruciating and prolonged, extremely perverse form of guerilla warfare and/or persecution, humiliation or life long submission.

The Top Three Purveyors of the Worlds Most Dangerous Threats

• Barack "It's not my fault" Obama – the source of the virus that will ultimately, without intervention, weaken America to the point of collapse.
  
• Al Gore – the planetary bully who the world forfeited their lunch money to because no one had the balls to stand up to him.
• Mahmoud Ahmajinedad – the mass murderer whose precursor lunacy went unbelievably undetected and/or was deemed too crazy to believe.

Religious Zealot; A Fanatical Partisan

I live in an area of the USA that is populated predominantly by people of the Mormon faith. They are good people in general yet they have a reputation for being a bit odd. Perhaps it is because of their strict moral code which includes everything from modest dress to abstaining from sexual encounters (until marriage) and avoiding all things addictive, including caffeine and alcohol. But it is primarily the behavior of the zealots in their sect who insist on their right to live a polygamist lifestyle that gives them a bad name.

I was raised in an area of the USA that was populated predominantly by people of the Catholic faith. As a non-Catholic I felt they were basically good people but considered them a bit odd. Their strict dogma (especially the birth control thing), rosary beads and hail Mary’s, dashboard Jesus statues, no meat on Friday and their Pope’s fancy robes and hats all seemed somewhat strange to me. Yet ultimately it was the 'forbidden' sex rule imposed upon their priests which led to their penchant for molesting little boys that gives them a bad name.

Later I lived in an area of the USA that was populated predominantly by people of the Baptist faith. As a non-Baptist I felt they were basically good people but considered them a bit odd. In general they seemed a little on the fanatical side. I’ll never forget the grand white tent revivals with their healing preachers and their honest-to-God holy-rollers, and the occasional snake handler. Yet ultimately it was their racial prejudice and their zealots in white sheets that gave them a bad name. The dress and actions of these zealots and their isolated incidents of violence were intentionally sensationalized so as to bring their beliefs to the attention of all.

They did some horrible things and as a result were abhorred by all outside of their ranks. Subsequently, most realized the error of their ways and sought more peaceful ways to convey their message.

Now I find myself living in a world overflowing with Muslims, which I find odd because I don’t know any Muslims. My perception however is that this particular group of people is overrun with zealots. Dangerous, deadly zealots.

It seems like every time tourists are blown up in a resort hotel or a night club, every time an American embassy or military barrack or naval ship is bombed resulting in the death of young women and men, every time a suicide bomber shreds the flesh of innocent shoppers or worshipers in an open air market or mosque, every time a hijacked airplane is used in an unbelievable act of horror, every time a Dutch film maker is stabbed in the heart on a public street for expressing his beliefs, every time a writer or cartoonist is sentenced to death for his words or drawings… there seems to be behind it, the almighty Muslim God, Allah, who seems to trump all other Gods, and the Koran (Qur’an) which appears to me to be written under the guidance of the same entity who inspired the work, Mein Kampf.

I’m not reading about any Mormons or Catholics or Baptists or Protestants or Jehovah Witnesses or Seventh Day Adventists, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus or any other group of people murdering others in the name of their God, other than the exception of Muslims.

Can someone please explain this to me? Are there any moderate Muslims out there who do not believe in ‘death to the infidels’?

If so, why do we not hear your voice?

This latest incident at Fort Hood has once again been associated with a Muslim. Regardless, any individual who chooses to wantonly murder 13 individuals and wound another 31 in an attempt to end their lives deserves to have his life ended immediately and without mercy. The brave souls who confronted him and cut short his vicious and heinous act are hero's without question. Yet in a way they fell short for not treating their reaction as a mob execution and walking up to Nidal Malik Hasan's motionless body and pumping a few more bullets into his skull.

- 100% Me Self

They shoot bloggers don’t they?

I should shoot myself in the head for this post.

There’s nothing worse than being called a racist, except for maybe being called a pedophile or a sex offender.

Nobody wants to be called a racist.

Which is exactly why the minorities in this country use the accusation to promote their agenda and silence their opposition.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton realized this a long time ago and have perfected and massaged the technique into very lucrative professions.

Yes it can be said that whites, of generations past, due primarily to a disparity of numbers between the races (people abuse people everywhere) have abused blacks. Yet no people anywhere have done more to lift up blacks than white America.

America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known, anywhere in the world, even today.

The pendulum swings? Who exactly are the racists in America today?

I’ll say it. Primarily the blacks, and many Hispanics are foolishly following suit.

The largest group of illegal immigrants that ‘get it’ and are thus capable of showing respect for independence and personal freedom while working their way out of the shadows are the Asians. Perhaps it is because no race has been slaughtered in more significant numbers by dictatorial and oppressive governments than the Asians.

I can honestly say I’ve never met an Asian I didn’t like. Both Blacks and Hispanics should take note.

On the other hand, as an innocent adolescent I lived in the south and learned first hand that there was a marked difference between regular black folks and niggers. Niggers gave all black folk a bad name. Same as trailer trash and ‘crackers’ gave white folk a bad name, as well as white whores and drunk Irish thugs and Italian gangsters gave their race or heritage a bad name. In fact, where I grew up there were white folks we called niggers.

Yet for the reason I state above you can’t call a nigger a nigger anymore. Go figure.

I lived in the south, and later lived in the San Francisco bay area. As a result I’ve know and been friends with a lot of black folk in my life. I liked most all of them, they added a new perspective to my life and thus enhanced it. They all had a sense of humor no matter their situation and they all loved life in general. Based entirely on my personal experience I view them to this day as great musicians, dancers, athletes and thinkers. And that’s saying something. Again, as the numbers go, I’ve met a lot more ignorant, bad, stupid white folk as I have black folk.

Top of my list of niggers:

• The 'Reverend' Jeremiah Wright
• The 'Reverend' Al Sharpton
• The 'Reverend' Jesse Jackson
• The tax cheat Charlie Rangle

Ever see one of those guys dance, make an athletic move, sing, play a musical instrument, display a sense of humor or even think? Me either.

I could go on but I’ve already said too much.

- Me Self

P.S. - For the record I do not know the etymology of the word “nigger” so I may be out of line here. On the other hand, maybe not. The meaning of words change from generation to generation.

I have a beautiful sand covered campground with an awesome natural rock fire pit on my property with a creek running on its edge and all of my daughter’s twenty-something friends refer to it as “sick” because... they love it.

Also, there's three sentences above I plagiarized from a Pat Buchanan op-ed because he said exactly what I was thinking.

Traditional Americans Are Losing Their Nation

In their lifetimes, they have seen their Christian faith purged from the schools their taxes paid for, and mocked in movies and on TV. They have seen their factories shuttered in the thousands and their jobs outsourced in the millions to Mexico and China. They have seen trillions of tax dollars go for Great Society programs, but have seen no Great Society, only rising crime, illegitimacy, drug use and dropout rates.

- Pat Buchanan

A Word to The Wise

In the late 1400’s there were some trees, some cotton, some hemp, some metal forming technology and the wind and the water. It all came together one day and people began to sail away from the European continent and discover new ‘worlds.’

In simpler terms there were boats and water and that’s how new land was discovered, new countries were created and how they were connected to one another.

Then came mining, electricity, the telegraph, lights, the telephone, automobiles, refining oil, chemistry, medicine, the industrial revolution, flight, plastics (light weight speed boats), aluminum (light weight jet airplanes) and a whole bunch of other mind boggling stuff including fiber optics and lasers. Maybe not in that exact order but now, as a result… everybody seems to be in the same boat.

You’re looking at China when you watch American Idol. You’re pulling Viet Nam (yes, Viet Nam) up to your waist, one leg at a time when you put on your pants. A good part of your breakfast came from Brazil and you drove to work courtesy of the hard working folks in Japan. Your after dinner drink came from Ireland, Mexico or Sweden and if you had any tech or financial issues earlier in the day you probably talked to someone in India.

That’s why you need to be concerned about Iran and Afghanistan and Iraq and Jews and Arabs. They are all right in your backyard.

- Me Self

P.J. O’Rourke on the automobile (and other topics)...

A very enlightening video interview from the legend himself (15:37 min.).

- Via Drew Carey and Reason TV

A Haunting in Congress

If you've ever watched the TV series, A Haunting, on the Discovery channel, whether you believe the stories or not they will creep you out; send chills down your spine.

Today, shivers ran down my spine as I believe The United States Congress has been themselves, overcome by evil. And so I find myself creeped out again, big time.

Under the guise of enforcing House Rules, under the guise of reprimanding a man for breaking decorum, they officially condemned a man for speaking his mind.

In reaction, Dennis Miller stated that Congress has been infected with a severe case of "sickophantis assinintis." It's worse than that. I believe the consequences of this action are so far reaching that it may forever change the face of politics and further erode our freedoms in this country.

Congress, a group of men and women who are supposed to represent our population and who each and every one took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of The United States of America formally, officially and publicly rebuked a man for his right to exercise his freedom of speech!

He did not yell "fire!" in a crowded theater. He was not vulgar or vile and caused no harm to anyone. He was not publicly intoxicated. He did not incite a riot. He did not contribute to the delinquency of a minor. What he did may have been rude, he may have broken decorum in the strictest of minds but he broke no law and should not be punished.

In many people's mind he simply blurted out, in loud frustration, a two word truth; "You lie!"

He did not call the other members of Congress liars. He called one man a liar and immediately apologized to that man and that man accepted his apology. The demand that he apologize to all of Congress, and then be punished for his refusal to do so, is not only irrational but smacks on the wretched surface of stagnant and polluted waters.

It's time to drain the swamp.

- Larry

Women

I’ve been surrounded by them my entire life. As my father’s only son I had four sisters. I’ve been married twice, both times to women. Like my father, I had one son and four daughters. My mother was a woman as were all of my aunts and even my grandmothers and mother-in-laws.

When I was in grade school, during recess I used to chase them. Once I got in trouble for kissing one of them after a successful ‘catch.’ Thus, my first ever pang of guilt was felt because of a soon to be woman.

Oh, make no mistake; many of them are evil, all are annoying. Estrogen is kryptonite to any real man.

It’s said that behind every great man stands a women. What they don’t say is that behind every man’s fall, everyman’s most insane and stupid act stands a woman. Remember Delilah and Pandora’s Box?

Yet they are nice to touch and easy on the eyes. Adorable and loving; intelligent and strong. In the end they level the scale and are indispensable.

I’ve often toyed with the idea of ‘dropping out’ by becoming a mountain man. Then it hits me; I’ve got to find a mountain woman first. So far I’ve been unsuccessful.

- Larry

An after thought: I think it was a good idea, attributed to God, to leave the decisions and actions of 'war' to men.

Babies Who smoke Cigarettes

There’s a growing body of work that indicates a relationship between our health as adults and our early diet, and even our mother’s diet. This research shows for the first time that our early childhood diet may have a huge impact on our health as adults.

This research dovetails nicely with the previous studies which showed that:

• Babies who smoke cigarettes are more likely to develop lung cancer.
• Babies who do shots of tequila with their parents are more likely to become alcoholics.
• Babies who drive automobiles without wearing a seat belt are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents

Seriously, as a result of such direly needed research a ‘sin tax’ on soda and sugary foods has gained momentum in the press and in some political circles.

When I grew up, we ate doughnuts and candy and drank a lot of soda. Not diet soda because it hadn’t been invented yet. And we stuffed our pie holes with, well…pie; hot pie. And hot dogs and Twinkies (anything with the word ‘Hostess’ on it) and put plenty of sugar on our cereal which we covered with whole milk and sometimes even cream; real dairy cream.

When I look around me today I don’t see kids riding bicycles anymore. In fact the only people I see riding bicycles are middle aged men wearing brightly colored spandex and teenagers participating in X-games. Our kids are all speeding around on solar or micro-gasoline engine powered scooters or other such self propelled devices. Parents shuttle them 6 blocks down the road to their friends house (apparently the cut off for walking is 2 blocks) in SUVs and they throw tantrums if you restrict their time viewing TV/DVD or playing with their computer controlled ‘virtual word’ gaming devices. Apparently at some point in time, these tantrums became so serious it became necessary to install these devices in the head rests and ceilings of SUVs and install miniature wheels into the soles of their little shoes!

When I was a kid we played outside most of the day, even in the winter. We ran and jumped and pedaled our single geared bicycles up and down hills and played baseball in an empty lot or in the middle of the street with a real bat and ball. As a result, most all of us grew up ‘mean and lean.’

There is nothing wrong with downing a 44 oz. Mountain Dew on a hot summers day, eating a 1,200 calorie burger at Carl’s or sitting in a big over stuffed chair with a bowl of sugar coated Coco Puffs watching a great movie or spending some quality time playing with your Wii, especially if you can afford a big flat screen to watch it on.

Government taxation on anything we consume or choose to do in our spare time is like a speed trap. It’s an unnecessary intrusion (and even more so an annoyance) into our personal lives, unfair most of the time and is usually the brain child of some career politician or some power grubbing authority seeking a way to pay for another one of his or her hair brained, unnecessary and intrusive projects or policies.

If government insists that somewhere in our constitution it states it is their responsibility to look after the weight of our children then what they should do is offer an income tax credit to parents who submit with their tax return a certificate of education, provided by free enterprise, of the successful completion of a class on ‘Parenting; the Proper Nutrition and Exercise for Children and Adolescents.”

Now there’s an economic stimulus that would benefit everybody.

- Larry

God’s Gift to Me

When geologists and archeologists fan out and search the globe they don’t find electric generators, windmills, solar cells, batteries, electric wiring, transistors or integrated circuits anywhere.

What they do find is cellulous material which equates to wood, coal, volcanic and geothermic steam vents, dinosaur bones, tar pits, natural gas and oil and an occasional encounter with static electricity and lightning. All of which were formed and in place long before man was present here on our earth. Modern science has declared it so in books. So it must be fact.

Yes, God put all of these things in place long before he created the Garden of Eden because he knew Adam and Eve’s offspring would eventually need to consume all of these resources, in one way or another, in order to energize the mechanical devices they would invent to make their lives easier (after he tossed them out of the garden) and which would ultimately enable them to overdevelop out of control technologies that would, as planned, bring them back to him. God knew all there was to know about carbon, in all of its forms.

What the authors of the Bible (and subsequent historians) missed was that God had given Adam, in the Garden of Eden, a book of matches. God knew most of these natural resources which he had so cleverly provided would need to be consumed by fire.

So, God made certain to create and add an atmospheric buffer around the globe that was adequate enough to protect the ozone layer (which he originally set at 500’ above sea level) from the effects of burning these resources.

Earlier in the week God made a bunch of other miscalculations but managed to correct them all, to absolute perfection, on Saturday.

You may think I’m joking but I’m not; drill, mine, funnel, process, refine, concentrate and burn. The only way to exist in our God given environment is to consume it!

It is what it is and no form of governmental control or regulation is ever going to change it. Period.

- Larry

Note: If you are interested in exploring this issue in detailed and complex terms read this excellent (and lengthy) article titled, ‘The Socialism Implicit in the Social Cost of Carbon.’

Now That It's Over, Uncle Jay Explains Recess

Almost exactly 2 years old but still applicable. I've posted it the last two years before the recess but it slipped my mind this year. Until now.



- Larry

"How Open-Minded Are You?"

Open-minded equates to stupidity.

An open mind is what you hear when criteria goes down the toilet. When someone says they are open-minded, they are waving the white flag, for there is no way a human being can defend a decision, if he forfeits the framework for making one.

Yet, university professors and the media tell us that being open-minded is good! But try it in the real world. Imagine being open-minded using power tools or pit bulls — it would only end in tears. Just ask my good friend Jim who only has one hand (he was born with two) and Michael Vick. Worse, being open-minded is a refusal to identify evil. That's because defining morality is seen as close-minded.

I think it's time we declare a war on open-mindedness. It is a costume of fake intelligence, a way to undermine all of us who make real decisions each day.

The next time someone tells you to be open-minded, hit them. If they get angry, simply tell them they're being narrow-minded. After all, they should be open to violence, especially if it allows you to grow as an individual. Then, take their wallet.

Credit: Greg Gutfeld

Ah, yes, good old bureaucracy...

Quietly we go like sheep to slaughter.

Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, established during the Carter Administration?

We've spent several hundred billions of dollars in support of an agency ...the reason for which few people who read this can remember.

The 'Department of Energy' was instituted on 8-04-1977 TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Now 32 years later it has a budget of 26.4 billion dollars a year, 16 thousand federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees. And we’re still dependent on foreign oil.

Does anybody else out there see the main reason for this as being powerful lobbyists greasing the palms of career politicians?

We’ve currently turned over our entire banking system and a large segment of our automobile industry to our government and now we’re considering doing the same with health care.

What??

- Larry

'Angry White Man'

I've been avoiding this 'Angry White Man' issue for some time now and will continue to do so for a little while longer, so don't hold your breath.

In the mean time, here's the definition of an 'Angry White Man' through the eyes of an 'Angry Black Man':

"Someone from a demographic that has the majority of Senators, Law Enforcement officials, Congressman, State Governors, Judges, the top richest people in society, the majority of management positions, yet still thinks he's oppressed because you won't let him call you nigger."

"Usually ends up sending letter bombs or killing and eating the women who won't sleep with his bitter, self-righteous ass."

Example:

Angry White Man: "How come I have to pay you slave reparations?"

Average black person: "You've never paid slave reparations."

Angry White Man: "How come I have to pay this illegal immigrant?"

Average black person: "Because you hired him."

Humm... this doesn't help me at all.

- Larry

NEWS FLASH! Death panels already exist...

This is a long and serious post involving the death of my father. I’m posting it because it dovetails with today’s debate about Obamacare. If you are not in the mood for such or don’t have the time, scroll on down for some more light hearted stuff.

Death panels? They already exist. They’ve existed ever since people started dying.

I know for certain as I was a member on one of them.

The other members were my sister, a heart surgeon, an attending head physician (specialized in the specific calamities affecting the patient), the head administrator of the ICU, a hospital administrator, a mediator (employed by the hospital) and my father’s brother. NOT present were any government officials or health insurance representatives or any professional patient advocates.

We had about a half dozen meetings. Not everyone was always present and they were always called at the brink of potentially explosive emotional outbursts.

Years prior, my father had been diagnosed as having sarcoidosis of the lungs. He survived a bout with prostate cancer and now at 76 years of age his heart was failing. At this stage in his life his condition was at best, fragile. His doctors were at a loss. Treating one condition aggravated the other. As such my father knew for certain death was just around the corner. So much so, he posted instructions as to what to do if his death should occur suddenly, taped to the wall in his kitchen. As a detailed, oriented taskmaster it was only obvious that he also had a living will. In it he expressed his desire to not be put on life support of any kind should he end up in the hospital.

His living will stated that in the event he could not communicate his daughter and I were to have the legal power to speak for him. I believe that the very day I drove him to the ER he knew it was the beginning of the end of his life and that he was not going to be returning to his earthly home ever again. I could see it in his eyes. It didn’t help that the head doctor on duty practically yelled out across the room after checking him out the equivalent of “dead man dying.” I could hardly believe my ears. I’ll never forget that day.

From my perspective, and I believe from the perspective of both my sister and my father’s brother, all of us who watched him suffer from that day on only wanted to do what was spelled out in his living will, written specifically to avoid the pain and suffering of all involved. Aware of his fate he told me he wanted to go gently into the night and die with dignity.

Yes… at first when he could no longer communicate, and serious life ending considerations were left up to us we sometimes questioned his desires and even our own decisions.

From the perspective of the health care workers, from top to bottom, they wanted to keep him alive as long as possible and their reasoning was at times quite convincing.

But there came a time when the inevitable was obvious and my father’s wishes and ours as his spokesmen were blatantly ignored. He had DNR (do not resuscitate) written in red on the white board next to his name at the nurse’s station. They resuscitated him twice, once after he tore off the life support systems attached to his body throwing the apparatus across his room in frustration and/or anger. When he got to the state when he could barely be understood he would whisper in my ear “tell them to let me go.” When he could no longer speak and hardly control the shaking of his hand he would manage to scratch out the same message on a piece of paper.

After each request, “important” health care workers would be summoned to his room and they would in short order, demand we leave his room. They would emerge reporting at first that he didn’t know what he was talking about because his mind was clouded with the drugs that they were dripping into his veins to suppress his pain. Later they resorted by just explaining that he “changed his mind.” His heart surgeon, at one of our “death panel” meetings actually accused my sister and I of wanting our father dead so we could profit from his estate. A desperate and baseless accusation as the man had nothing left in his financial accounts beyond a few thousand dollars. And no one in our family was interested in such.

It got to the point towards the end where I would go home and shed tears in part thinking about his suffering and in part from the frustration of not being able to figure out what was going on. Why wasn’t he dead? Why was there such a massive effort to keep him alive when it was so obvious his vital organs were no longer working? I was his only son for Christ’s sake. I asked him to be clear, I prayed about my decisions.

This was a real “head crank” for me and I believe also for all who were involved. I could go on for another few pages but I won’t. It was a very complex situation and my father only made it worse at the very end by revealing that he didn’t really want to die because he was afraid to face a harsh judgment in the afterlife that he so fervently believed in for the sins he committed in his past. That’s some pretty heavy stuff. Something I guess we’ll all have to face at our own transition.

In the end, and to this day I do not believe there was any profit motive or any other diabolical plan by either the hospital or insurance companies or even the government to keep my father alive. My father shunned Medicaid and I witnessed the “worker bees” of health care fervently doing what they were trained to do; keeping people alive. My God, the ICU was so full they hardly had the time to meet and formulate a grand plan to “fleece” my father and his family. I saw people who were just trying to make a living, same as you and I, who had chosen their profession because they cared about people. They were special people and we should be grateful for all of them.

My father’s heart surgeon? She was a brilliant, skilled and wonderful woman. No doubt she’s saved the life of many people and was paid a handsome sum for doing such. Kudos for her, she worked long and hard to be able to do what she does and she deserved it. However, I believe in my father’s case, her ego trumped all reason. For some reason she just couldn’t let go.

NOW HERE”S THE POINT OF THIS POST. Sickness and dying is a very personal and complex, dramatic and emotional event; whether it be slow or sudden. The only thing that equates to such in gravity is conception and birth. There is nothing more personal in our lives than these events.

I’ll pay my taxes to help pay for a system that will preserve my freedom by repelling socialism, fascism, communism and anarchy. I’ll even put up with a certain amount of corruption and greed as I understand those traits are inherent to the human condition, as well as even a bit of an abuse of power, also caused by the human condition accurately identified by psychologists as “ego.”

But I’ll be damned if I’ll support or tolerate a government that wants to unnecessarily meddle
in the birth and death of humanity just for the sake of governing. That's what Obamacare feels like to me. He’s got the same ego as my father’s heart surgeon had. It’s pretty obvious to me the number of the uninsured in this country would be dramatically lower if government wasn’t already taking so much of their money to line the pockets of themselves and their cronies and spending it on so much useless, wasteful projects and programs.

As I’ve illustrated above, dying is already complex enough. My decisions concerning such will be dictated by my own conscience and those decisions will be evaluated and judged by the God of my choice. Not some self righteous stuffed suit, wig wearing buffoon sitting in a paid-for-by-tax-payers leather seat, sipping a gin and tonic in a Gulfstream Jet heading for Aruba on a trip to gather facts about global warming.

If Jesus were on that jet, I believe he might, in the interest of saving his children “storm the temple” and open the emergency door at say, 35,000 feet above sea level. Thereby sucking the breath and lives out of the greedy, self centered people who have made themselves the ruling class rather than acting as our humble servants.

Or not. I’ve got a feeling he may just leave it all up to us.

Can you say, “freedom of choice?” God help us all.

- Larry